ESTIMATION OF LOUDSPEAKER POSITIONS

• US 20120075957A1
• Filed: 05/27/2010
• Published: 03/29/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: De Bruijn, Werner Paulus Josephus
• Granted Patent: US 9,332,371 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 367/118
• CPC Class Codes: H04R 2205/024 Positioning of loudspeaker enclosures for spatial sound reproduction
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/301 Automatic calibration of stereophonic sound system, e.g. with test microphone
• CPC Class Codes: H04S 7/302 Electronic adaptation of stereophonic sound system to listener position or orientation H04S7/301 takes precedence

Abstract

A system for determining loudspeaker position estimates comprises motion sensors (201, 203, 205) arranged to determine motion data for a user movable unit where the motion data characterizes movement of the user moveable unit. A user input (207, 209) receives user activations which indicate that at least one of a current position and orientation of the user movable unit is associated with a loudspeaker position when the user activation is received. The user activation may for example result from a user pressing a button. An analyzing processor (211) then generates loudspeaker position estimates in response to the motion data and the user activations. The system may e.g. allow a speaker position estimation to be based on a handheld device, such as a remote control, being pointed towards or positioned on a speaker.

Claims

1. A system for determining loudspeaker position estimates, the system comprising:

means (201, 203, 205) for determining motion data for a user movable unit, the motion data characterizing movement of the user moveable unit, and

a user input (207, 209) for receiving user activations, a user activation indicating that at least one of a current position and orientation of the user movable unit is associated with a loudspeaker position when the user activation is received; and

analyzing means (211) for generating loudspeaker position estimates in response to the motion data and the user activations.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the analyzing means (211) is arranged to determine orientation data indicative of an orientation of the user movable unit in response to the motion data.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the analyzing means (211) is arranged to estimate a direction from a position to a loudspeaker position for each of a plurality of user activations in response to orientation data for the user activations;

and to determine the loudspeaker position estimates in response to the directions.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the analyzing means (211) is arranged to determine the loudspeaker position estimates in response to a predetermined distance estimate from the position to each loudspeaker position.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the analyzing means (211) is arranged to determine position data indicative of a position of the moveable unit in response to the motion data.

6. The system of claim 5 wherein the analyzing means (211) is arranged to estimate a relative position of the user movable unit for each of a plurality of user activations in response to the position data associated with the user activations;

and to determine the loudspeaker position estimates in response to the relative positions.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein the loudspeaker position estimates are determined assuming each relative position corresponds to a loudspeaker position.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the user input (207, 209) is arranged to receive a reference user activation indicating that a current position or orientation of the user movable unit is associated with a listening position reference, and the analyzing means (211) is arranged to determine a reference position or orientation in response to the reference user activation, and to determine the speaker position estimates in response to the reference position or orientation.

9. The system of claim 8 wherein the analyzing means (211) is arranged to determine the speaker position estimates relative to the listening position (111).

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the user input (207, 209) is arranged to receive a user input indicating that a loudspeaker position is unused;

and the analyzing means (211) is arranged to designate a corresponding speaker position as unused.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein the user moveable unit is a handheld device.

12. The system of claim 1 wherein the user moveable unit is arranged to determine at least one of a position estimate and an orientation estimate for the user moveable unit at a time of user activation;

and the user moveable unit further comprises means for communicating the at least one of the position estimate and the orientation estimate to a remote unit.

13. The system of claim 1 wherein the user moveable unit comprises a motion detection sensor (201, 203) and the determining means is arranged to determine the motion data in response to data from the motion detection sensor (201, 203), the motion detection sensor (201, 203) comprising at least one of:

a gyroscope;

an accelerometer; and

a magnetometer.

14. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for causing a sound signal to be radiated from a first loudspeaker position to be estimated;

and means for linking a user activation received within a time interval associated with the sound radiation to the first loudspeaker position.

15. A method of determining loudspeaker position estimates, the method comprising:

determining motion data for a user movable unit, the motion data characterizing movement of the user moveable unit, and

receiving user activations, a user activation indicating that at least one of a current position and orientation of the user movable unit is associated with a loudspeaker position when the user activation is received; and

generating loudspeaker position estimates in response to the motion data and the user activations.